This invention relates to a food container, and in particular to a container which is adapted to facilitate the consumption of the contents of the container.
Many food products including snack foods are marketed in moulded plastics material containers. When a snack food consists of easy to handle pieces, the consumption of that food is relatively easy, by using the fingers. Semi-liquid, pastes or cream-like food-stuffs, such as cottage cheese, yoghurt, and so on, though eminently suitable for use as snack foods, are not so widely purchased for this purpose, in view of the difficulty of consuming them as an informal snack. Such food-stuffs cannot be eaten with the fingers, and a consumer has to provide a spoon or other utensil. Consequently, the likelihood of, say, a pot of yoghurt being purchased as an impulse-buy snack food is much reduced as the purchaser will not have a spoon readily available for the consumption of the yoghurt. Similar issues apply for certain types of savoury foods, such as those which merely require the addition of hot waterxe2x80x94for example, noodles, pasta and soups.
To address the above problem, a shop may provide a free moulded plastics spoon or perhaps a wooden spatula. It is also known, for example with ice-cream tubs, to secure a spoon or other utensil to a container for example with self-adhesive tape so that a purchaser may have readily available a suitable utensil for consumption of the contents of the container. However, this proposal is inconvenient for the supplier, in that the attachment of the utensil to the container is difficult to achieve on a mechanised basis, and so tends to be costly. Moreover, there is a significant risk that the utensil will be detached either deliberately or inadvertently before the product is consumed.
The above problem has been addressed by securing a spoon internally within the lid of a container, so that access to the spoon may be gained once the container has been opened. However, this has the disadvantage that the length of the spoon is restricted to be less than the diameter of the container, which often is very significantly less than the depth of the container. In addition, and particularly for liquid or semi-liquid foodstuffs, the handle of the spoon is likely to have the foodstuff adhering thereto, and so will be unpleasant to use.
There have been other proposals, but generally the spoon is too short, or a folding spoon is employed, but this is very expensive to implement. Further, these solutions may have complex arrangements for retaining the spoon to the container.
In an attempt to address the above problems, this invention provides a food container in the form of a moulded plastics material pot having a base and a side wall upstanding from the base, in combination with a moulded plastics utensil to assist the consumption of the food contents of the container when sold, the container being of generally circular cross-sectional shape and having an integrally moulded outwardly-projecting rim, and the utensil being moulded integrally with the container and connected at one end thereof to the rim of the container, the length of the utensil substantially corresponding to the height of the container and the external surface of the container side wall having an inwardly-directed depression moulded therein to extend substantially from the rim of the container to the base wall of the container, the shape of which depression generally corresponds to that of said utensil so that prior to use the utensil may be located in the depression, and there being a covering for the depression which covering serves to retain the utensil in the depression and to protect the utensil from contamination.
It will be appreciated that with the food container of this invention, a utensil is provided with the container, located in an inwardly directed depression in the container wall. One end of the utensil is hingedly connected to the container rim and extends for essentially the full height of the container. Thus, a purchaser of the product will have a suitable utensil immediately available for the consumption of the container contents, which utensil may easily reach to the bottom of the container. This will enable the purchase of the product as an impulse-buy snack food, even though that product cannot be eaten simply with the fingers. The utensil is produced integrally with the container in an automated manner and so is relatively cheap to implement. Also, as the utensil does not project outwardly beyond the container to any great extent, the likelihood of any inadvertent or even deliberate unauthorized detachment is much reduced.
The utensil will have a handle, and it is highly preferred that the free end of the handle of the utensil is hingedly connected to the container rim. In the alternative, the free end of the handle may be hingedly connected to the container at or adjacent the rim of the container.
The hinged connection advantageously is by way of a moulded frangible hinge, whereby the utensil may be broken away from the container when the utensil is required for consuming the content. After manufacture by simultaneously moulding the container and the utensil the utensil may be hinged around so as to be located within the depression in the side wall, for storage there until the utensil is required for use.
Preferably the utensil is a press-fit in the depression in the container side wall, so that the utensil will be retained in the depression until required for use. To this end, the utensil may be a close fit within the edge of the depression, or there may be one or more inwardly directed nibs formed around the edge of the depression and behind which the utensil may be pressed, so as thereafter to be located and retained in the depression.
In addition, or as an alternative means for retaining the utensil in the depression, a label may be applied to the container wall, which label extends over the depression and so also over the utensil in the depression. Such a label may comprise a pre-printed self-adhesive panel, or may be in the form of a pre-printed shrink-wrap sleeve which is fitted to the container after the location of the utensil in the depression, the sleeve then being shrunk by the application of heat so as to grip the container.
Though the utensil provided with the container will usually comprise a spoon, for the consumption of semi-liquid or cream or paste-like food-stuffs, other utensils could be providedxe2x80x94for example, a fork, knife, stirring rod or a pair of chop sticks. Indeed, it would be possible to provide the container with more than one depression, spaced around the periphery of the container wall, with a different utensil located in each such depression.
This invention extends to a packaged food-stuff in a combination of a food container and a utensil of this invention as described above.